


Embrace the Truth

by musikurt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-16
Updated: 2008-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-03 00:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musikurt/pseuds/musikurt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucius finally gets an assignment from the Dark Lord that he finds personally rewarding and satisfying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Embrace the Truth

Lucius was very excited…this was something he had always wanted. Many things that he did as a Death Eater were because he knew it was what the Dark Lord commanded, but this…this would bring him great personal satisfaction as well. He stood for a moment outside the door, listening to the boy’s screams. Bellatrix was already working her magic, no pun intended, but what was in store for him would be far worse than he could imagine.

He swung open the door and saw Harry Potter chained to the wall, screaming in pain as his sister-in-law incessantly hurled hex after hex in his direction. “All right, Bellatrix…let’s give him a moment to…prepare himself,” Lucius said in a voice that even he thought sounded cold as ice.

“I’m not…ugh…afraid,” Harry managed to get out in between convulsions. Although he was in pain, he intended to continue fighting until the end.

“Oh, I believe you,” Lucius replied with a smile. “Why should you be? You escaped death once before, so it stands to reason you should be able to outwit it once again. Well, I hate to break it to you, but one does not get that lucky twice. And when we’re done here, you’ll wish death had come to you when it visited you the first time. Bring them in!”

Sounds of a struggle came from the doorway as three masked Death Eaters brought Molly, Arthur, and Percy Weasley into the room in chains.

“Leave them alone!” Harry yelled. “They have nothing to do with this!”

“On the contrary, young Potter, they have everything to do with this. I may have been willing to reconsider, but since you have just made it so painfully apparent that you do not wish to see them harmed, I’m afraid that is no longer an option.”

“What is it you want? Clearly there is something or you would have just killed me by now.”

“What do I want? Well, let’s see. Perhaps I want you to suffer a slow and painful death all the while begging me to let you live until eventually you just beg me to let you die. But that would be too predictable, now wouldn’t it?”

“Well, then?” Harry was getting impatient, but his bindings were so tight he couldn’t move a muscle.

“Let’s just ensure that you know the truth, Harry, the truth about your beginnings and the lies that you have been told your entire life. You see it was not Peter Pettigrew who revealed the location where your parents were hiding when they were killed, oh no. It was your father.”

“That is an outright lie! I don’t know how you would even expe—“ Harry’s words were cut off abruptly by Bellatrix who put her hand over his mouth.

“Shhhh,” Belatrix whispered, “it’s time to listen, not time to speak. You will listen clearly to the true story or one-by-one I’ll be forced to make you say good-bye to your ‘new family’, the little Muggle-lovers over there.”

Lucius let out a small laugh as he saw the look of horror on Harry’s face. He knew that Harry was aware that Bellatrix was not joking—she follows through on her threats.

“Now, where was I? Oh yes, you see, not long after he left Hogwarts, your father joined up with us. He was sick of Dumbledore and all of the ‘we need to embrace everyone’ talk or whatever drivel he was spouting out those days. And he had decided, after spending so much time with your mother, no doubt, that mudbloods should not be allowed to practice magic.”

“You take that back!” Harry tried to stop himself, but the words came too quickly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” Harry turned in time to see Arthur Weasly fall to the floor with a thud. “I was only going to warn you once, kid, you knew that,” Bellatrix laughed followed by a long high pitched cackle that one could probably hear for miles.

“The Dark Lord demanded of him the ultimate sacrifice in order to support our cause. He would need to show he was committed by revealing your location so that the prophecy could not come to fruition. I must tell you he never once hesitated and he gave you up as easily as saying his own name.”

Harry tried to shift do work out some of his discomfort but instead just managed to make himself even more uncomfortable.

“The next part of the story is the only part that is up for debate. You see, some claim that when the Dark Lord arrived, your father resisted, had changed his mind. That’s the story told by those who want to believe that he was good at heart and that he could never have given up his family like that. But you’re a grown boy and you should know the truth. He ASKED to be killed. He said that it was the only way that the whole thing would be believable. If the Dark Lord let him live, there would be questions.”

“Nonsense, utter nonsense,” Harry responded, shaking his head.

“Oh, no? Why don’t you ask someone else who was there.” With a flick of Lucius’s wand, the gag over Molly’s mouth fell off.

“What is the meaning of this?! I swear I—“ Molly stopped when she saw Bellatrix raise her wand. “Harry, he’s telling the truth.”

“NO! That’s not how it happened. It was Peter Pettigrew, PETER PETTIGREW!”

“I’m sorry, Harry, but that’s what we know. I was there the night it happened. I overheard your father and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named talking in the front yard. I tried to warn your mother but she wouldn’t listen. She thought it was ludicrous. So I got myself out of there. I tried to take you with me but she wouldn’t have it.”

“You’re making it up, all of you,” tears began to well up in Harry’s eyes. He knew there was no way it could be true. His parents were good people. His father would never side with Voldemort and allow his own family to be killed.

“I’m so sorry, Harry.” Molly collapsed to the floor in tears, apologizing to Harry between sobs.

“I think that about wraps it up, don’t you?” Lucius asked to no one in particular.

“Why? Why would he betray us? It doesn’t make sense,” Harry asked, while Bellatrix wiped the tears from his eyes with a handkerchief (a task from which she appeared to derive great pleasure).

“Because, Potter, he was weak. Just like you. Like father, like son.” Harry recognized this new voice. Voldemort was here…had likely been here all along. “And now, I think we’ll take our leave of you. For a very long time, Harry, I wanted you dead. You had humiliated me more than anyone ever had in my entire life. As you know, I have killed many for far less. But I rather like what Lucius has done here and we shall allow you to live. Yes, you will live out the rest of your days knowing the truth about that night. Lestrange, clean up this mess.”

“AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA!” Bellatrix’s voice pierced through Harry as the other two Weasley’s fell to the floor next to Arthur. Harry began to sob uncontrollably as the Death Eaters dragged the bodies toward the door, everyone else left, and Lucius locked the door behind him.

“I must commend you Malfoy,” Voldemort remarked with a smile. “You have really outdone yourself. I think the pain he feels believing that story is far beyond anything we could have done to him physically. His mentor always tried to tell him that love makes people stronger, but look at him now…a weak, feeble, sobbing mess.”

“I can’t take all the credit, if Bellatrix was not the master of the Cruciatis Curse, we never would have been able to make him believe it.”

Voldemort let out a pleased sigh and the three of them walked down the corridor, stopping occasionally to relish in the sound of Harry's sobs, which they could still hear clearly all the way down the corridor.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [**yinepu**](http://yinepu.livejournal.com/). I don't usually write DarkFic, but I think it actually turned out pretty well. It certainly did not go the way I expected.


End file.
